"New Year's Day" by U2, Friday, January 1, 2021
U2's third album, War, brought the band a number 1 album in the UK, dethroning the King of Pop's Thriller. Previously the band wrote songs about growing up and spirituality, but, according to lead singer Bono, "War seemed the be the motif in 1982." Hence, the band released War on February 28, 1983. Many of the tracks on the album were inspired by the socio-political issues in the band's home country of Ireland, namely The Troubles, the conflict between Catholics and Protestants physically dividing the island. However, the album delves into other political subjects in a time when the world seemed divided during the Cold War. And this '80s zeitgeist album seems all the more relevant today.
I WILL BE WITH YOU AGAIN. Prior to the album's release, U2 issued their first single on January 1, 1983, what would be the third track on their breakthrough album. The Post-Punk, New Wave keyboards meeting the now signature delayed, clicky guitars of David Howell Evans, better known by his stage name, The Edge set a backdrop for Paul David Hewson, a.k.a. Bono, to lay his the visceral imagery of something happening. A newly wed, Bono started writing the song about his wife as a love song; however, the song took a political turn when he was inspired by the news of Polish Solidarity Movement, the organization of a labor union that helped lead to the end of Communism in Poland. Even among their vast discography, "New Year's Day" was, as of 2019, the band's seventh most performed track. "New Year's Day" was the band's first international hit, paving the way for "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," a song about The Troubles that would be the album's third single, and an even bigger hit, as well as the band's biggest fifth album, Joshua Tree in 1987. Though the band would go on and refine their sound with the legendary producer Brian Eno, it's the raw War album that is my favorite portrait of a band as young revolutionaries.
NOTHING CHANGES ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. We expect change to happen at the turn of a calendar, but the fact is that minute changes are happening constantly, so small that we can't even sense them. Coming out of the most unprecedented year in my lifetime, we could look very hard to see that something was coming, but most of us were just living our lives. Another line that seems particularly true is the opener "All is quiet on New Year's Day." New Year's Day is anticlimactic. In a good year, I would have eaten too much, starting from Halloween. I would have spent time with friends. In Korea, good friends have end-of-year meet ups where they go out drinking and remembering the good times. However, after staying up and watching the ball drop or the bell ring, or in Korea, watch the sunrise, the holiday season comes to a close. Unless of course if you call Valentine's Day part of the holiday season. My memories of New Year's Day: dishes on the table from the night before and a messy house to clean up. Eating leftovers from Christmas and New Year’s Eve. New Year's Day is the time when we finalize our goals that we will likely abandon in 3 weeks.
Let's hope for a better 2021 starting with a quiet New Year's Day.
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